Foreign policyhttp://www.pfaw.org/
Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:10:17 -0500Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:06:51 -0500Liberty Counsel, Family Research Council Enraged by Move to Consider Gay Rights in Foreign Aidhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/liberty-counsel-enraged-move-consider-gay-rights-foreign-aid
<p>That was fast.</p>
<p>Just moments after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the United Nations in a <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57337738-503544/u.s-makes-first-ever-push-for-gay-rights-abroad/">historic address</a> that the United States that the United States is <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/12/178341.htm">committed to protecting LGBT people overseas</a> from persecution and discrimination, and will use foreign aid as an instrument to defend their rights, Liberty Counsel&rsquo;s Matt Barber attacked Clinton and President Obama for having an &ldquo;obsession with the radical homosexual activist agenda.&rdquo; Clinton called out abuses such as violence against the LGBT community, including &ldquo;corrective rape,&rdquo; along with the criminalization and demonization of homosexuals.</p>
<p>But that was too much for Barber, who earlier this year joined Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver in <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/staver-under-obama-us-one-worlds-immoral-leaders">blasting the Obama administration</a> for withholding aid to Malawi because the country outlaws homosexuality. Barber told the American Family Association&rsquo;s<a href="http://onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=1491312"><em> OneNewsNow </em></a>that the Obama administration is &ldquo;trying to force nations to adopt America&rsquo;s immoral positions on issues of sexuality&rdquo; while supposedly ignoring &ldquo;real human rights abuses&rdquo;:</p>
<blockquote>The announced policy, according to Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action, "displays the arrogance of the Obama administration." <br />
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It is "frankly offensive," says the attorney, that President Obama "feels compelled to export American culture's decline in morality, and export that immorality to other nations that are trying to adhere to traditional principles relative to human sexuality." <br />
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Barber also notes that the administration is apparently ignoring the fact that foreign nations -- like the United States -- are sovereign countries. He adds that the U.S. is "using essentially blackmail and the purse strings" of the nation to force countries to change their moral principles. <br />
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"What about nations where Christians are driven out of the nation or executed?" he asks. "And this Obama administration, instead of focusing on real human rights abuses, is trying to force nations to adopt America's immoral positions on issues of sexuality." <br />
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Barber believes there is an "obsession with the radical homosexual activist agenda that seems to drive this Obama administration." </blockquote>
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: Family&nbsp;Research&nbsp;Council senior fellow Peter Sprigg also denounced the new policy to defend LGBT rights abroad, <a href="http://www.frc.org/newsroom/frc-criticizes-obama-administration-foreign-policy-toward-homosexuals">lashing out at the administration </a>for &ldquo;imposing an alien ideology on other countries&rdquo;:</p>
<blockquote> "It is startling that President Obama is prepared to throw the full weight and reputation of the United States behind the promotion overseas of the radical ideology of the sexual revolution. If he did the same on other issues, his own liberal allies would undoubtedly accuse him of cultural imperialism. Threats to withhold foreign aid from poor countries unless they conform their laws to the views of Western radicals are unconscionable. <br />
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"The United Nations, like the United States, remains sharply divided on the issue of whether special rights should be granted on the basis of sexual conduct, sexual orientation or gender identity. No treaty or widely accepted international agreement has established homosexual conduct as a human right, yet the Obama administration's actions seem guided by this fiction. <br />
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"President Obama should increase efforts to defend human rights that are widely recognized, such as religious liberty, rather than appeasing his domestic allies by imposing an alien ideology on other countries."</blockquote>Brian TashmanAnti-GayForeign policyLiberty Counsel Matt Barber Peter Sprigg Family Research Council28970Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:10:17 -0400Foreign policy